Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/370

 320 COMPLETE PEERAGE ATHOLL dignities of Duke of Atholl, Marquis of Tullibardine^ Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle, Fiscount Balquhidar, Glenalmond and Glenlyon, Lord Murray, Bahenie and Gask claimed by his said petition. " (") On 21 Aug. 1766 and again in 1768 he was chosen a Rep. Peer [S.]. K.T. 23 Dec. 1767. Grand Master of Freemasons [S.] 1773 till his death. He w., 23 Oct. I753> ^t Dunkeld, Charlotte, only surv. da. and h. of his uncle, James (Murray), 2nd Duke of Atholl [S.], by Jean, his ist wife, da. of Thomas Frederick, abovenamed. On her father's death, 8 Jan. 1764, she became suo jure Baroness Strange, and inherited the Sovereignty of the Isle of Man, which had been granted by Henry IV to her ancestor Sir John Stanley, and held by that family till 1736, when it devolved in right of her father's grandmother (see under the ist Marquess as also under the 2nd Duke of Atholl) on her said father. This Sovereignty of the Isle of Man she and her husband sold to the Government in 1765 for ^70,000 and an annuity of ;{^2,ooo for their joint lives, reserving, however, their landed interest. The Duke d. at Dunkeld (having drowned himself in the Tay, in a fit of delirium), (") 5 Nov. 1774, in his 46th year. Will pr. Mar. 1779. His widow (°) d. at Barochney House, near Glasgow, 13 Oct. 1805. C^) in her 75th year. Will pr. Aug. 1806. Both bur. at Dunkeld. DUKEDOM [S.] IV. 4, 5, 6 or II. John (Murray), Duke of Atholl, i^c. [S.], s. and h., b. 30 June 1755, and bap. at Dunkeld. In 1777 he raised a Regiment for the > 1774. public service, named the 77th Reg. of Foot or Atholl Highlanders. Grand Master of Freemasons [S.] 1778-80. In 1780, being a Tory, he was elected a Rep. Peer [S.]. F.R.S. 9 Nov. 1780. On 18 Aug. 1786 he was raised to the Peerage of Great Britain, being ct. BARON MURRAY MARQUESSATE [S.] V. EARLDOM [S.] XXXII. (') It is curious that neither the Marquessate of Atholl, the Earldom of Atholl, nor the Earldom of Tullibardine are mentioned among these honours. ('') For an account of his death see Hist. MSS. Com., i uh Rep., App., pt. 5, where the writer of the letter, Sir James A. Oughton, speaks warmly of his virtues and benevolence. V.G. (°) On the death of the Duke of Ancaster, in 1779, the Duchess of Atholl (being, through the families of Stanley and de Vere, senior coh., though by the Aa^ blood, of Henry, lith Earl of Oxford, High Chamberlain), was a claimant for the office of High Chamberlain of England, as also was Hugh, Lord Percy, styled Earl Percy (who was the senior coh. of John, the th Earl, and of all the preceding Earls), but the decision in May 1 78 1 was that their rights "were barred by the statute of limitations. " See vol. ii, Appendix D. C) In The Abbey of Kilkhampton, p. 103, edition I 788, Sir Herbert Croft, probably sacrificing truth and meaning to alliteration, describes her as " mad miserable and merciless. " V.G.